


Taking Back What's Mine

by markofthemoros



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Horror, Out of Character, Riku whump, Violence, Whump, dark! Sora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 10:53:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17405576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markofthemoros/pseuds/markofthemoros
Summary: Riku learns the hard way that everyone has a boiling point. That there is darkness in every heart. Even Sora's.





	Taking Back What's Mine

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted in FFnet in January 2017. In the wait for Kingdom Hearts 3 less than two weeks from now, now introduced to Ao3, with significant edits, lol.  
> Originally written for a prompt by Shiranai Atsune. They wanted dark Sora and they wanted it violent. Well, ask and you shall receive. HC Riku whump with a twist.

Riku's pants came in rapid puffs as he dashed along the alleyways of the First District. Sweat beading on his grimacing features glistened in the mellow light of Traverse Town.

Sora had left almost an hour ago. There's no way it would take him that long taking care of a few small Heartless. Riku had a horrible feeling. Something bad had happened. Sora could be hurt. Sora could be worse than hurt. He gulped; he needed to hurry.

Cursing under his breath, he tore open the massive gate door leading to the Second District and hurried across the courtyard, to gaze over the market place. There was no-one in sight.

"Sora! Sora, where are you?!"

His heart quaked as the all too familiar air of darkness whisked against his consciousness. Without a sound other than a whiz of materialization, Riku summoned his keyblade: gruesome yet graceful cleaver with a beautiful angel wing protruding from the sharp edge. Admirable, and deadly.

The Shadow disappeared in a flash of purple in mid-leap. Riku brought his blade across his chest to defend himself in case there were more. Those things seldom came alone, after all. And as he waited, the shadows around him began to shift. Out of them emerged a dozen and a few Heartless. Little creatures, and four of the tall, lanky and dangerous ones as well. Teal eyes narrowed; the last time he had seen these things, he had been out to fight Roxas.

"I don't have time to deal with you," Riku noted at the creeping crowd. As the Heartless wobbled to surround him, he released a Firaga spell. It caught the creatures off guard; a few leaped away quickly enough to avoid the blast, but Riku listened to the crackling with a smug smirk spreading over lips as most of them burned in the ethereal fire. Without delay, he dashed to strike at the nearest little creature, slicing it neatly. A few drops of black liquid splashed onto the pavement before the creature vanished in thick swirls of darkness, and Riku was already gutting the next one.

The last embers still smoldered as Riku vanquished the last of the larger ones. Huffing, he scanned the area again, but let his blade disappear." That took care of it," he muttered. "Now–"

He was cut off as his instincts flared, and his eyes snapped up. A large shadow was in the middle of striking him from above. 'Shit! There was one more?!' That single thought was all the time he had. Not enough to call his blade back, not even enough to brace himself. The weight was on him, Riku flailing backwards as the impact knocked him down to the pavement. His head crashed into the stone, and his world went black.

* * *

As he came to, the first thing to register was the pain. It stung the back of his head, and something pulled at his hair. He was groggy and more than a little nauseous. Prying his eyes open a slit, Riku took in his surroundings. Hazy vision wandered around the scarcely decorated bedroom that was painting onto his retina little by little: there was nothing more than a bed, a small table and a wash bowl. The plain wooden walls only had one window, on the far wall, but the shutters were down, letting only strings of cold lamp light in.

A room? Riku was puzzled. What had happened? He remembered being attacked by a Heartless – that one damn thing had survived, and Riku scolded himself for his carelessness! But how was he now in a room? Who had rescued him from the Heartless?

He tried to bring his hands in front of himself to push himself up from the floor, but a cold yank behind him stopped him. Perplexed, he tried again, only to be reassured of his predicament at another strong pull against his numb wrists. "Huh?!" Cold fear settled in his chest. His hands were securely tied behind his back, the hemp digging into his skin at every jerk. Whoever had done this was no friend. But who? And why?

"Oh, you're awake? Took your time, Riku. I didn't think I hit you that hard."

That voice. Riku blinked to clear his vision in the dim light. It had sounded so familiar - and yet not familiar at all.

"Who are you?"

The soft steps padded closer, and Riku's heart fluttered as he could make out the face in the scarce light. The utterance was a mix of relief and disbelief.

"Sora?!"

The slender boy crouched to kneel before the silverette. He didn't say anything, though, merely looked at him, his eyes somehow searching. For what, Riku wasted no time to think about.

"Sora! Are you OK?! You're not hurt?"

"Me? Oh, I'm good. No need to worry about me." There was something dangerous in that tone, and it made Riku gulp quietly. Something was wrong here. Something was truly, terribly wrong. He tried to pull his arms free again, with no luck.

"Hey. Would you mind getting me out of these?"

"Yeaaah, I guess I could. But then I would just have to be redoing them again soon, so not gonna bother."

Riku's eyes widened; a small gasp escaped him. "Sora…?"

Sora's grin held a sharp edge to it Riku couldn't interpret. It was the self-satisfied, self-confident look Riku had grown accustomed to seeing on him. But this time it made his stomach lurch. It wasn't triumph he read over it. It was -if it could have been possible, corcerning Sora- something akin to malice. And Riku was certain it didn't belong there. It didn't belong to his best friend's face.

Running out of patience, Riku went to summon his blade. He would cut himself free, get Sora out of here and resolve this bizarre situati– "Huh?!" Riku visibly twitched as his hand met nothing but air. He tried again, with growing confusion, admittedly laced by the panic creeping into his heart at the sheer  _obscurity_  of the scene splayed before him; the blade refused to come.

"What…?"

The question was barely voiced, but apparently Sora heard it, for his grin widened, eyes narrowing.

"Looking for something?" Waiting until he had his attention, Sora extended his arm to the side, and in a whiz and a small crackle, he held in his hand the Way to the Dawn, the metal glimmering coldly in the filtering light.

Riku's breath hitched. "How?! It's not yours, Sora."

Sora's eyes widened in a flash of anger at those words, Riku noted, and his grin turned into a snarl.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Sora hissed as he brought the tip of the blade dangerously close to Riku's throat. The bound boy froze as he watched his own reflection dance on his own blade. "There are rules to keyblades, you know. You taught me this yourself once. I defeated you. You lost to me, so the keyblade changed its allegiance. It allies with me now." Sora stroked the edge of the wing against Riku's cheek, the sharp edge cutting to draw blood; Riku squeezed his eyes shut with a sharp hiss at the nick of his skin. His breaths came in small pants now, and Sora could see him shivering. "You of all people should know this."

From somewhere far away emerged a memory. There had been a time when he had fought Sora and the Beast over at the Rising Falls, when he had still been the puppet of darkness he once was, and Riku understood. He had done it himself. Taken the Keyblade from Sora by besting him in battle. He should have remembered. But it still made no sense! He hadn't fought Sora! He had fought the Heart–

Riku's eyes flew wide as a horrible realization chilled him to the core. The last Heartless. Hadn't been a Heartless.

Sora could apparently read each turn of the cogs in Riku's head as he gracefully brought the blade over his shoulder. "I have to say, I hadn't expected that Firaga, man. You damn near burnt my eyebrows off," he scolded lightly as he rubbed his brow as if to make sure it was still intact.

"Sora. What're you doing?"

He groaned in pain as Sora roughly gripped his hair and hauled him up. Riku wanted to bark something sharp at him but it stuck at his throat as the cold kiss of metal grazed his neck again. "I'm taking back what is mine." The blade pressed into the skin a little and Riku's breath hitched. "How does it feel, Riku? To watch how your best friend rips you of everything you've ever achieved? How someone excels you in everything you've ever done?" Sora hissed , his face mere inches from Riku. "Well, guess what, Riku? It ends tonight!"

"What's wrong with you, Sora?" Breathing shallowly through his nose, he waited in terror for something to happen. For Sora to release him…or for Sora to kill him. One look into those blazing pools of ice and fire spoke volumes to Riku. Whatever this was, Sora was dead-serious about it.

Suddenly, the threatening blade was gone. Blinking, Riku heaved in relieved breaths - but his reprieve wasn't to last as a shattering knee sunk into his abdomen. Doubling over in pain, Riku spat out blood as air left him. His eyes watered, his whole being shook as his knees gave up. He slumped onto the floor at Sora's feet, struggling to breathe.

Cold glee shining in his eyes, Sora watched as the boy writhed before him. Quietly he crouched down at his side, bringing a hand to rest on Riku's shoulder. Through his pain, the silverette gazed at him in utter disbelief. There was fear in that look, but it was still overshadowed by Riku's burning desire to be mistaken. And something must have clicked inside Sora, for his eyes widened, a soft gasp escaping him. "Riku..." Apologetic look turning his features grim, Sora tucked an arm underneath him, to carefully lay him onto his back. Riku tried to shove him away, but unwinded as he was, his resistance lacked the strength and went vastly ignored as Sora was already lifting him. Glaring at the brunet warily (but having no real choice in the matter), Riku allowed himself to be guided to lie on his back. "Riku..." Sora ran his fingers gently over the other's cheek. "Does this hurt?"

Before Riku had time to prepare, Sora thrust the blade into his inner thigh. His scream of utter agony was strangled and raw and sounded even better than Sora had imagined. He jerked the weapon around to drive it deeper and watched in satisfaction as the other shook as wave after wave of pain assaulted him. In the midst of Riku's screams he made out his own name.

"So...ra..! S- stop! Sora!"

Intrigued, Sora smirked as he twisted the blade one more time, relishing the agonized yelp. He then tore it out, the once white wing stained in Riku's blood. The silverette was shaking uncontrollably. He had his eyes squeezed into pained grimace, lashes moist of the fresh tears. He was slumped limp on the floor, delicious moans underlining his heavy breaths.

Sora's expression was unreadable as he took in every pained gasp, every flinch. And the blood. There was a lot of it. Much more than he had expected, and Sora wondered if he had made a mistake. Color was draining from Riku's face. Just to be on the safe side, he rose to fetch a Potion he had stashed just in case, well, this would happen.

He couldn't afford this to go to waste, after all.

He applied just enough to stop the bleeding. Riku's breaths, which had become a little labored already, eased, and he wriggled to look at his tormentor. Friend. 'Sora', he decided. He didn't know how else to call him at this point. "Friend" was out of commission at this time.

"Why-" Riku started but was interrupted by a swift stomp directly to his fresh wound. Agony burst in him again, tearing out another hoarse scream, but he refused to be silenced. "W-why are you.. doing… this… Sora?! What is.. wrong.. with you?!"

Riku's insides froze at the amusement in Sora's stifled laughter. "The fun thing is, Riku, I don't feel wrong. I don't feel wrong at all! On the contrary, I can't remember when I've been more pumped up in my life!"

"You don't m-mean that… Sora! I know you! This- this isn't you!"

Eerie malice settled over the brunet's features. "Don't you dare try and take even this away from me, Riku. Pretty much everything else you've already claimed but this, this you will not. This is going to go my way."

"What are y-you talking about?! You-you're not like this!"

Sora eyed him poisonously, then grabbed the front of Riku's shirt to pull him to face him. "Ever since we were kids, Riku, ever since then you've been doing nothing but stealing everything away from me. As kids, it was the races and the games. You always, always beat me. In everything. And even that one time I actually bested you, you called it a draw because you slipped and came second. As if it had been my fault you slipped. You just simply refused to let me win, didn't you, you arrogant bastard? And the sword fights. You were always trying to show off for Kairi, even though you knew I liked her, even as a kid. You've always, always tried to pick her up, to take her away from me, too! And now, this–" Sora called back Riku's blade again. Riku gazed at it, lost and confused. He couldn't fathom this. Any of this!

"This was supposed to be my thing, Riku. Mine! I was the Keyblade's Chosen. So what the hell–" Sora roughed him up a little before bashing his head with his own,"–what the hell is it doing with you?!"

Sora pushed him into the ground, snorting at the pained yelp Riku gave as his injured leg was agitated. "Who was it whom the Keyblade chose, hmh? Me! It chose me, Riku! But then you just had to have it, didn't you? You had to steal even that from me. And why? Simply because it was something I for once happened to have that you didn't!"

"That's not it, Sora! Y-you know it isn't…!" Riku hissed back from behind clenched teeth. He was getting desperate. "I never...asked for the Keyblade."

"So you admit to everything else?" Sora snorted, eyes an ice storm of fury.

Riku was silent. Riku had never thought about it, but now that Sora had said it, it really made him sound like an utter asshole. An inconsiderate brat. He couldn't deny it, though. He had been an ass. Shame burned him as he understood how put down Sora must have felt. And he hadn't realized. Sora was always the one cheering everyone else up. Sora, who was always happy, always smiling, always caring. How long had he harbored his grudge?

"I'm…I'm so sorry, Sora."

"Sorry?" Sora whispered, his voice pure venom. He dug his foot into Riku's wound and squished it, Riku writhing and whimpering in pain under his hard eyes. "You have systematically robbed me of every precious thing I've worked so hard for. Every moment of glory you've made meaningless by doing it better. But hey, it's all gonna be alright, man. Because  _you're_   _sorry_."

Riku's heart skipped a beat. He was suddenly certain he had heard his final judgment in those words. The sheer vengeance wrapped around those sibilant words left him in fear of death. Sora was indeed dead-serious. And it was Riku who was going to end up dead.

"Sora, p-please–! Aah! You, you can sti...stop this!" he ground out.

Sora didn't ease the pressure on Riku's injury, but he fell silent to look at him. The blood on Riku's face had smeared across his cheek and into the hair. He was pale and sweaty and shaking all over. His eyes were squeezed shut in an agonized grimace. His chest rose and fell with rapid pants, and most of Riku's upper leg was stained crimson.

"Tell me something, Riku," Sora demanded quietly. "Why did you want to be a Keyblade Master?"

Riku's heart missed a beat. He had no simple answer to give. "I...I didn't." Sora's eyebrows rose. "I ju-just wanted to… learn to control the da-darkness in me."

Sora pressed the wound again, a real squish this time, and relished the cries. "Being the Keyblade Master was my dream, you know," Sora spoke sternly, ignoring the other's pain. "But I'm not the Keyblade Master here, am I? It's you. Again and again it's you – and you didn't even want it!" Sora's tone had risen. "You stole my dream again, and you didn't even want it!"

Sora grabbed Riku's shirt to lift him, and punched him hard; blood welled up where the skin was broken, mixing with sweat and fresh eye water. Sora beat him. And beat him. It wasn't until he felt the head slump and heard the first wet gurgling sound that he stilled.

Riku was barely conscious. Hazy eyes behind drooping eyelids, his face was a mess. Hair stuck to his sweaty skin, tinting it crimson. His breaths were shaky and shallow. He had gone limp. But the tiny voice was still resilient,

"Sora…please stop. Stop doing this. Don't- don't make…the mistakes I made." He could smell the undertone of darkness. It coursed around them heavily.

"What makes you think it'll be a mistake?"

Riku's eyes widened to stare at him in horror. No, no, no, not this. Not him! Not Sora! Riku knew he had lost – the Light had lost – when he saw the first faint swirls of darkness dance on Sora's skin.

Sora let go of him, and Riku sagged onto the floor. Shocked eyes searched for him frantically, and Sora stood up - to stand above him, and even in the dim light, Riku could see the thickening cloud of darkness growing around Sora. It was both magnificent and horrifying sight. And as Sora stretched his arm again, darkness flew in to form a cruel replica of Riku's keyblade. Too weak to speak, Riku only shook his head.

Sora's eyes were cold as he looked down as his captive, but the smirk he had spoke volumes of his intent. Of blood-lust. "You're right, Riku. This isn't mine," Sora spoke with vehemence as he gripped the Way to the Dawn with both hands and brought it up, blade straight down.

'No.'

"You can have it back!"

'Sora, please!'

Sora drove the keyblade down in one swift motion. Blood gushed to stain the floor, stain his face as he tore it off, and then stabbed again. And again. And again. The crimson started spreading around them, the lamp light filtered through the blinds glimmering on it faintly.

Sora's breaths came in heaves. He let go of the keyblade and stumbled backwards. The blade begun to evaporate into darkness. Sora didn't call it back.


End file.
